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Last week, because we are edgy, rebellious and pretty much the dictionary definition of renegades, we broke the law. We decided we’d had enough of having an outdoor space and no fire-breathing apparatus to exercise our American-given right to burn food on in the summer months and brought home the tiniest, safest and most docile grill ever manufactured, basically the fluffy kitten of the barbecue landscape. As I figure we’re going to be asked to remove it any moment now, all of my previous summer goals have be redirected to the following: enjoying every second of it while it lasts. We are going to grill everything. I am halfway to fulfilling my fantasy of setting all my food on fire.

We started with chicken, however, because in real life I am not exactly Francis Mallmann (I’m sorry to disappoint). We had a small crowd for dinner last Thursday (in advance of this guy’s guitar recital) and because we are officially at a point when I find cooking anything extra, no matter how wiped out I am, still more appealing than finding a restaurant that can accommodate 6 grown-ups, a 6-year old and a 10.5 month old fireball. I bet the restaurants thank us, too.

But if this is any indication of how simple summer cooking can be with a grill, I regret nothing. This assemble-your-own dinner setup, which was inspired by one I saw in Goop a few years ago, is exactly as laid back as big dinners should always be. First, you make a simple marinade for the chicken and let it sit in there for as long as you have — 20 minutes? 24 hours? It’s all good, as Gwyneth would say. Then you make an amount of tzatziki that will seem excessive, but it will disappear first. You chop a bunch of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and red onions and then you grill all of your chicken (even on my tiny grill in two batches, this took about 22 minutes), add some pitas at the end and that’s it. You just fed 8 people and you barely broke a sweat. Plus, you pulled off the unthinkable — a light summer dinner that allows everyone to eat or not eat what they don’t want (onions, if you’re my kid; bread, if you’re most people right now) and leave you out of it so you can instead clink ice in your rosé glass and enjoy the charred scent of summer wafting off the table.

So…: What your favorite thing you’ve ever grilled? I have some catching up to do.

Chicken Gyro Salad

Don’t worry if you don’t have a grill. Despite all of my excited talk about it, we’ve made this dinner many times in a grill pan on the stove and/or roasted in the oven.

Short of making your own pitas, if you have any luck finding Kontos brand pocketless pitas, they’re my favorite for meals like this — thick, keep well without getting stale, freeze well for later and toast up beautifully. (Not sponsored!)

Did you know that gyros means rotate or turn? The classic gyro sandwich is named after the vertical rotisserie usually used to cook lamb, beef or other meats. Needless to say, we’re adapting the idea a tad loosely here.

Chicken

1 tablespoon olive oil

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon hot smoked paprika, plus more to taste

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled

Freshly ground black pepper

10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 3 pounds)

Tzatziki dressing

2 cups (554 grams) plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt

1 hothouse, English or seedless cucumber, unpeeled (about 1 pound)

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon minced fresh dill

2 medium cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Assembly

1 head romaine lettuce, chopped

1 red onion, thinly sliced

About 1 pound small-medium tomatoes, chopped

1 hothouse, English or seedless cucumber, chopped

4 large pitas (intending 1/2 per person) or more as needed

Prepare the chicken: Combine all ingredients in a large freezer bag. Rub all around, coating chicken as evenly as possible. Let marinate for 20 minutes or up to 24 hours, whatever time you have.

Make tzatziki: Place the yogurt in a medium bowl. Quarter your cucumber lengthwise and cut out the seeded area. Coarsely grate your cucumber onto a clean dishcloth and wring it out as well as you can. All of that liquid makes for a soggy sauce. Add wrung-out cucumber to yogurt bowl along with lemon, vinegar, dill, garlic, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings. Chill until needed.

Prepare salad components: Arrange lettuce, onion, tomatoes and cucumbers on a platter. If desired, toss onion with a squeeze of lemon and/or dash or two of vinegar and salt so that it mellows/lightly pickles while it rests.

Cook chicken: Heat your grill to high heat or a grill pan to medium-high. Remove chicken from marinade and grill on first side until dark lines appear, about 5 minutes, then flip and grill for 3 minutes more on second side. Cooking times will vastly range by the thickness and coldness of your chicken, as well as variations between grills. Transfer cooked chicken to a cutting board, let rest for a couple minutes while you quickly heat/toast your pitas on the grill.

This was incredible! I made this along with the chicken gyro salad and it was a perfect accompaniment. I don’t understand how it works, but it really does pick up a smoky flavor in a short time. A real game-changer. Thanks for this!

YES GRILL ALL THE THINGS. The trick to not getting anyone to snitch is to occasionally offer to share your delicious fire-food after a neighbor says “ooh, that smells good, what are you making?” (and they will say that. often.)

Monica — Good question! My husband always does; I only sometimes bother. I mean, it’s just a little fat? In this case, my husband did the prepping so the extra fat was removed. A couple days later I made it again and didn’t trim and nobody noticed or complained.

Salmon on a cedar plank is my go-to with some roasted potatoes and asparagus. Luckily, I’m in the PNW and my dad fishes in AK every summer so I’m easily stocked all year round. I marinate the salmon in some soy/garlic/ginger mix in a bag for 30 minutes then put it on the soaked cedar planks. Super delicious!

The local Mediterranean place does a greek salad with shwarma on top, I think this could be my attempt to recreate at home. However I don’t have hot smoked paprika (I have regular and smoked). If I buy hot (can’t find hot smoked locally) what do you imagine the sub ratios might be? split the regular paprika into regular and smoked and sub the smoked hot for just hot?

Faves from the BBQ? Omg, where to start?? Any kind of veg from the garden with a herby marinade (slices of potato, pepper, aubergine, pumpkin, courgette…), stuffed boletus mushrooms (or other wild mushrooms- there are a lot of kinds around here), pizza, kofte, satay, clafoutis….nom nom nom!

Also, also (sorry for the three comments in a row, but between grilling and your vegetable gardening, you’ve recently hit on my two favorite summer food things and I have no restraint), more favorite grilling recipes…Everything. I basically don’t cook on the stovetop in summer anymore except to make scrambled eggs or anything that involves boiling water (pasta, rice). And I live in an apartment/condo with a porch probably smaller than yours.

My hands-down favorite recipe for the grill is smoked salmon, though I don’t know how well it would work on a grill that small (you can do it on a gas grill, though). I already mentioned your feta salad/dip thing. A grilled steak Thai salad (flat iron steak is my favorite cut to grill for salad, tacos, just about anything). Burgers (veggie, turkey, beef). Vegetables for pasta salad.

This will be part of our dinner rotation, pronto! I’ve got two favs to grill: grilled romaine salad (cut in half, rub lightly with a high temp oil, char for a couple minutes, dress with a sprinkle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon, top with a bit of fresh herbs and a nutty cheese — soooo good!) and the other is 5 spice chicken drumsticks with cucumber, daikon and carrot salad.

I know this was a year ago, but YES YES YES to the grilled romaine hearts, soooo good. We almost always buy some to throw on whenever we’re grilling because they’re so good and easy it seems a shame to warm up the grill and not get any!

Well this just makes me sad that we’re currently grill-less! Might need to move that up the priority list. And +1 to “who cares” about the chicken fat. Heck, I buy chicken thighs for the fat; I’m working on a recipe right now that relies on a good amount of incidental schmaltz*, and I was annoyed when the package I brought home turned out to be mislabeled chicken tenders; not my thing.

Okay, clearly my family is not foodie enough, but last night’s hamburgers over the grill are the ONLY way to make them taste awesome for a traditional grilling party with lots of teenagers and kids. Turkey burgers, asparagus, broccoli, corn on the cob, tri-tip (super good marinated,) chicken breasts and on special occasions great steaks are also summer staples. I have big boys with big appetites, we live in the suburbs, and I train them in high school how to work the grill so we can eat when their father gets home.

The best thing I ever grilled was Thai chicken satay. I had a dinner party and invited some friends, but they were already booked. The husband asked, kind of as an aside, what I was making. Thai chicken satay. A while later, he got back to me to say that as a matter of fact he and his wife were in fact free.
Chicken, pork and even smaller pieces of beef can benefit from a marinade when going on the grill.
We also make pizza on the grill, but I’m not sure the kitten grill is up to that.

Favorite thing to grill: sliced pastrami! It gets so delicious and melt in your mouth soft and crispy on the edges. I LOVE to add it to a grilled rare burger with a dollop of guacamole. That + beer = summer heaven.

I have to agree with the grilled pizza fans! SO GOOD! And the best when you don’t want to heat your house by blasting the oven at 500 for an hour! Also any vegetable. Zucchini, peppers and onions are eaten by the bowlful in the house and asparagus too!

I’ve been grilling all the things as soon as it got warm! This will be my first full summer with regular access to a grill and I love the grilled protein + simple vegetable dinner template. I’m kinda obsessed with a Vietnamese-ish grilled cabbage salad with grilled chicken or skirt steak (though honestly I’d be happy with just the salad).

just found your review and thought i would offer a newly found suggestion. i also enjoyed the grilled, caramelized pound cake with vanilla bean ice cream. this year i added a drizzle if a delicious raspberry balsamic vinegar after visiting one of those olive oil stores. it was so delicious! the vinegar is nearly a syrup on the whole mix and imparts a lovely zing to break up the layers of sweet.

This.looks.amazing!!! Must try this week, since Virginia weather has decided to go from the 50’s and 60’s to the 80’s and 90’s in two days flat. :/

Interesting thing to grill — pizza! Put the crust on and grill for a few minutes, then flip and add sauce/toppings and grill until the cheese melts (assuming you use a melty cheese). It winds up oddly-shaped with delicious little crispy burned spots and is a whole new pizza world.

Also — you must try summer peaches on the grill (if it’s around that long). They caramelize wonderfully and almost don’t need anything else … but adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a drizzle of caramel sauce and some toasted almond slivers or pecans … well, as long as you’re breaking the laws of decadence, you might as well! :D

Pedant alert: Technically, as you alluded to in your note, this is a more of a souvlaki salad, since the meat is closer to what you’d grill on a skewer than the rotating (gyrating) technique. And our Greek family is right there with you on the no-sponsorship Kontos pita — they are superb!

Pretty much any vegetable straight out of the garden/farmer’s market, tossed with olive oil, and thrown into a grill “wok” (meaning no skewering or dropping through to the fire) is a standard side or main around here. Fajitas are easy/awesome, and grilled eggplant parmesan (check epicurious) is a fun one too.

I’d suggest adding ground coriander (a tsp or even two) and maybe a half-tsp of allspice to get that gyros-y flavor in the chicken.
Note: in Athens, (GR, not GA) gyros is almost always pork or chicken: If it’s beef or lamb they call it doner.

YUM! Chicken thighs are my favorite chicken (and also my favorite thighs, heh). So much flavor ’cause dark meat, and typically a great bang for your buck. I also agree about assemble-your-own style serving for a group. Hooray for summer grilling!

The current issue of Food and Wine has a Charred Guacamole that I made this weekend. You grill everything–avocados, limes, tomatoes, red-onions, Serrano peppers, THEN make the guac. I really liked the smokiness and it was very simple to make. I also like a grilled flank steak with classic chimichurri, can’t go wrong with that!

Lemon listed twice — That was a typo, now fixed. You’ll just need the zest and juice of 1 lemon for the marinade.

Your suggestions — Thank you! Although now I will be even more sad if our time with the grill is short.

Grilled pizza — THIS IS SO ON. (I’m surprised I never covered it here because it’s my favorite. We often just make a lot of dough and then let people choose toppings… but previously, only at other people’s places. Here’s a favorite.)

Snapchat — If you’re on Snapchat, I just did a brief tour of my garden so far @smittenkitchen. It’s basically that time of year I find it impossible to focus in the kitchen because I just want to obsess over strawberry buds and assess what grew most overnight. Can you blame me? :)

We love grilled veggies! Get a cheapie grill basket at Home Depot or the like, coat veggies with olive oil/salt/pepper, and grill away. Easy on and off and seriously smokey and yummy. We also love grilled corn. Remove silks but keep the husks. Coat with butter or olive oil, salt and pepper (and anything else) and cook for about 15 minutes, rotating once in a while.

jacquie — This is the grill. Best part: the grill plates are in two parts so it’s very easy to just bring them in, soak them a little and run them through the dishwasher. Sparkling clean grill plates, little scrubbing. (I also bought more disposable drip pans because Amazon told me to.)

ruth — We love doing corn with the husks on but we don’t bother taking the silks out. Once the husks are quite black, the silks will fall away when peeled. Hope this spares you some work this summer. :)

Throw thin sliced chicken breast cutlets, half a cup of pesto, a few tablespoons of mild vinegar in a zip bag. Marinate however long you like. Grill and gobble. They take maybe a minute or two per side to cook, and are so summery & delicious! Great with salads, grilled veggies, couscous, or my personal favorite: on a crusty toasted sandwich roll with mayo.

Grilled fresh pineapple w/Malibu rum whipped cream is a favorite grilled dessert at our house. Just cut the tops & sides off the pineapple, slice and grill until it starts to caramelize, the core will get soft enough to eat or you can cut around it.

GRILLED QUAIL EGGS. Also grilled chicken skin, and grilled corn on the cob (because who doesn’t?!).
Also grilled fish with lots of cumin and red pepper (and sometimes shallow-simmered in a vat of vegetables and pickled vegetables.)

With the arrival of summer (and the end of term), are you finishing your cookbook? Looking foward to convincing you to do that post a day ^_________^ (and cooking, and snarfing it, of course!)

Also – practically any vegetable can be grilled – we grilled artichokes the other day which was surprisingly good; another odd but good one was fennel. However, we always love the standbys of mushrooms, zucchini, etc. Enjoy the grilling!

Since we bought a smoker a couple of years ago it has completely replaced the grill…even though it needs babysitting we are fools for that smoky flavor. I might be tempted to pull the grill out for this, though.

Deb, I make this exact same dinner over and over and over in summer. In fact, I even do a winter version (bone-in chicken thighs cooked with lemon and garlic in the oven – still served with massive dollops of tzatziki). We have the same BBQ (grill) as you – did you know you can roast in it? Best roast chicken EVER! It’s the first day of Winter here in Australia, sigh. Brrrrr.

@jacquie It’s a Weber! We have the same one for camping and love it. A word of warning though, because the grill is cast iron we have found that it destroys BBQ brushes quickly, which has resulted in some nasty metal bristle bits in our food.

clams in an aluminum foil pouch – pour a beer on top, 2 pats of butter, fresh herbs from my roof garden (whatever i have, usually parsley and thyme to cook on the grill and then topped with fresh basil once off the grill), lemon. add paper plates and there is literally zero clean up. i have done everything — steak, chicken, pork, pork belly, bacon, burgers — and this is the simplest and most delicious. also once almost started a roof fire from grilling pre-braised pork belly, so won’t be trying that again!

Sam Sifton had an AMAZING recipe for oven chicken shawarma in the NYT magazine a couple of years ago. I usually serve it with cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, etc, occasionally tzatziki if I’m feeling ambitious. It also calls for chicken thighs, and the fat ends up being rendered out while baking, so the meat isn’t fatty, but it’s also lovely and juicy, not dry like chicken breasts often are.

Our favorites on the grill are outside skirt steak, asparagus tossed in oil and salt, and pineapple (sliced and brushed with oil). Can I issue a challenge? Cabbage. I have never followed a grilled cabbage recipe that turned out even half way decent, and we love cabbage. I know its getting late for cabbage, but I’d sure love to have a good grilled cabbage recipe.

I just made this and it’s so delicious! I don’t have a grill so I roasted the chicken in the oven, still turned out fine. Grilling would be even better, because everything is better grilled. I love throwing ramps on the grill for a minute and eating them on anything, esp. with salmon. Thanks!

I’m really looking forward to making this tomorrow night! I’ve made the tzatziki ahead, and the thighs are marinating.

It won’t stop raining down here in Texas, so I may do it with the broiler instead of with my kettle grill. Does broiling for 15 minutes on a wire rack with a pan underneath, flipping halfway through seem like the right plan?

Made this for dinner and it was PERFECT for a 100+ degree day. We served it with a bit of leftover feta and fresh mint and cilantro because I had them lying around but otherwise used this exact recipe and it was great. Tons of dressing but we are it right up. Except mr picky five year old who just had the fresh pita with hummus.

I’ll second (millionth?) the pineapple. If you branch out into smoking things on the grill, smoked meatloaf is a staple for us in the summer, as well as corn (husks and silks removed prior to grilling). I’ve also got a potato salad in my repertoire in which all vegetable components (including sliced, parboiled potatoes) are grilled and then tossed with a bacon vinaigrette. I’m thinking of trying a summer vegetable galette on the grill, maybe on a sheet of foil until the bottom sets – still gotta work that one out. Smoked tomatoes are delightful on pizzas, pastas, eggs, your fingers . . .

As much as I hate southern summers, grill season goes a long way toward making up for it! I’m in favor of any cooking method that keeps the heat outdoors.

We lived in London for nearly three years, in a tiny apartment. Being Australian, I love barbecues, so for at least the six months after we returned to Sydney I put something on the barbecue every night! At the moment I’m really into barbequing vegetables. Red cabbage for a charred coleslaw. Broccolini for a salad. Corn. Asparagus. Fennel and raddicchio for salad. Eggplant, zucchini and red capscicum. Amazing!

Dear Deb, this meal is amazing!! As a Greek, I would recommend that instead of grating the cucumber for the tzatziki, you could just remove the seeds and simply chop it in chunks. It is really common here in Greece that way, but of course it is just a matter of taste!!

Where are your childrens photos hidden? People are always commenting on how beautiful they are, but I have never been able to see these photos in any of your posts. Enjoy your recipes and commentary and have made many of them over the years.

Deb imbeds links in her text, usually (if we’re lucky) one per post. When you see something like this, “… than finding a restaurant that can accommodate 6 grown-ups, a 6-year old and a 10.5 month old fireball. I bet …”

you’ll see there’s a link on the 10.5 month fireball. Click it and there you’ll see a photo. They’re always worth a click :)

Yay for summer grilling! This idea solves so many problems at once, my kinda thing! I think we have to invite people over asap. Your kids are too cute for any words. Jacob is playing guitar? That’s so nice! Are any of you (the parents) musical instrument players? So many questions, hehe.
My number one for grilling is eggplants. The really fat and thick ones… Like you would on the stove, untill they are blackened. Start slow (if using charcoal you wait untill the meat grilling is over and throw them directly on the hot coals, but I noticed yours is not so you can throw them right on the grill) and be careful, turn them around once in awhile. Then use them in baba ganoush, cold – or mix them with bechamel for a wholly different sauce and serve with meat, hot. Oops, I’m getting hungry!

Mussels on the barbie are my absolute favourite. In summer (which it most definitely is not right now here in Perth Australia) we grill mussels over the bbq flame until they open and then toss them through a dressing of lots (and lots) of freshly chopped garlic and parsley, olive oil and lemon juice. You need to be careful not to spill the juice in the mussels as you lift them into the bowl, because it mixes in with the dressing and you have a lovely salty, lemony, garlicky sauce to mop up with crusty bread. Absolutely finger licking good!

Grill slices of bread, brushed with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. Then rub the toasts with the cut side of half a garlic clove. Heaven. Even better piled with fresh tomatoes (or anything else).

Yum – will be making this for sure over the summer. Since I already make greek salads all the time. Our favorite things to grill are asparagus, eggplant, zucchini and mini bell peppers. Just toss with olive oil and kosher salt. We also make our own flat bread. Either make our own pizza dough or buy premade bread or pizza dough – small balls rolled out to mini flat bread, brush lightly with olive oil and top with garlic salt and grill. yum!

This looks amazing! Easy to prepare; involves the use of a grill/flame; light and refreshing…a perfect summer meal. One of the best things I’ve ever grilled was sweet peppers. You know those bags of mini tri-colored peppers? Wash them then throw the peppers whole onto the grill and cook until slightly blackened on all sides, to taste. Don’t bother cutting or kabob-ing or seasoning. They’ll come off tasting like charred fire-candy. Pick them up by their little stems once they’ve slightly cooled and gnaw like corn on the cob.

OMG, this was perfect for tonight’s dinner. My husband is still commenting about how great everything tasted together…absolutely delicious! I was unable to get boneless thighs so I substituted large boneless breast tenderloins and grilled them indoors on my grill pan. Also unavailable at the store, pita bread so I subbed mini naan …I prefer naan to pita unless the pita is homemade anyway. I had a leftover cucumber, tomato/sesame seed Thai salad in the fridge so I just added red onion to it. The salad’s sweetness from the rice vinegar was surprisingly complementary. Tzatziki was yummy.
So I’m not usually a commenter, I just take the recipes and run with them…they’re all good. I’m a fiend for the avocado toast and Raita salad, thanks.

Perfect timing; needing to buy new grill this week,
former one completely refuses (speaking of rebelling!)
to work any longer. My suggestion: your darling girl &
cute boy could support your family modeling if the cooking blog/
cookbook gig fails to be a hit. Hahaha!

Your kiddos are adorable! Your daughter’s red curls are the best. You must get stopped on the street a lot when strolling with her! I have this grill and it’s great. I’m a little phobic about big gas grills. I have to admit I love hot dogs on the grill! Nothing better in the summer! This looks yum, thanks!

We smoked brisket on the BBQ this past weekend. The first time we tried to smoke brisket on the BBQ it came out really dry and overcooked. This time, we took the internal temperature many times throughout and when it got to ~190 degrees F, we took it off and it was perfect.

This is what I’m making for our next dinner w our friends where one is a vegitarian and two can’t have gluten. We will likely add chickpeas and lightly pickled beets, and maybe some feta too, because what not! So many good things to grill: pizza and pita for sure. Grilled green onions has been my fixation since last summer. We had some at a fancy restaurant, twisted into a little nest and served on a bed of romesco sauce. The whole combo was amazing, but the green onions are repeated weekly in the summer, just olive oil, salt and pepper. Happy grilling.

We made this tonight and it was delicious. I marinated the chicken overnight and it was so tender. We cooked it on the grill pan on the stove and served with lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes (diced), in a wrap which was also warmed in the pan (no tzatziki for kosher reasons). Seriously good! Loved the marinade.

We do this same idea with make-your-own fish tacos. We set up a buffet bar with the grilled fish and all the fixings, including tzatziki sauce and let people make their own. It makes for great interaction and fun.

Oh Deb. You really do have a knack for giving just the right recipes at the right time. I so appreciate all you do. Adding this to the meal plan for me and hubby and 15 month old who eats as much as we do, but already thinking it might be just the perfect meal for when my family of 15 gets together this summer and each couple is tasked with dinner for a night!

Your comment about bread…. isn’t it annoying?! Haha I brought your AMAZING roasted tomato pasta salad to a cookout last weekend and half the people didn’t even touch it! Carbs aren’t going to kill you people! I get it, I get it. More for me. I also brought your strawberry rhubarb crumble and WOW. Will be making that all summer long! Thanks again.

Sorry to be annoying and triple comment… can you recommend a (somewhat hearty) side that you might serve with this? As per my previous comment, I want to make this for my large family but feel like I would need something else to round it out.

Amy — Thank you. You might just add additional things to the platter instead? Grilled eggplant, grilled haloumi, grilled zucchini. Or, if you really want a side dish, those three things together with some vinaigrette. :)

PREACH! We have a 3 year-old and an 11 month old. So much easier to throw a dinner party than try and go out to dinner with our friends! I’ll be using this menu for next time. Question- how do you store your Global knife? I just bought one this weekend and can’t seem to find any recommended covers/sheaths?

I am so happy you have a grill because I’m obsessed! My parents bought us a little Weber when we bought our house a few years ago, and it’s been our most-used housewarming gift by a mile. A few of our favorites…

Grilled halloumi. I think I could house an entire block of it on my own. And it would be be killer in these gyros!

Also, years ago, Fine Cooking had a grilled romaine and radicchio salad with balsamic and Parmesan shavings. It is one of my favorite salads.

I’m a grill snob and use only briquettes because to me, a gas grill is just an oven outside, with grill lines on the food.

Lots of good books on this. I like Steven Raichlen’s “How to Grill.” I took it out of the library last summer and returned it with regret, then found it for a dollar last winter at a library used-book sale. Sold.

Faves after 45 years of doing this: high-quality fresh tomatoes (cherry or grape tomatoes whole, large ones halved) grilled with a drizzle of olive oil are possibly the best-tasting food on earth short of chocolate. (Do not attempt with thin-skinned heirloom tomatoes.) This is for later in the summer, as is fresh local (NJ) corn on the cob–fabulous. Peaches in season, halved and grilled, with vanilla ice cream on top, make the summeriest dessert imaginable, especially with fresh raspberries (ungrilled) tossed on top. Any vegetable; zucchini sliced the long way and drizzled with a little oil and sprinkled with herbes de Provence or other herbs is a staple. Large mushrooms. Lamb-leg-chunk shish kebab, marinated first. Garlic bread (watch closely). S’mores for your kids!

MR in NJ — You get to be a grill snob because you live in NJ. :) I am basically one too, but as it’s already illegal for me to have one, I had to compromise one that would be fully shut off quickly vs. needing to monitor it until the bricquettes are out/cool. I agree that it’s closer to roasting outdoors than grilling (another reason I waited years to bother buying one) but oh my goodness, I was/am shocked by how happy it’s made us, maybe because it’s better than nothing. We have a grill! We can grill! We’re going to grill everything! etc. Thanks for the suggestions.

What to grill? All the things. ALL. Of. THEM! Pizzas are our current favorite (with your shaved asparagus leading the way as we wrap up the season, add a few slices of prosciutto). We love grilling salmon on cedar planks, and grilled a steelhead trout filet last night straight on the grill. Grilled asparagus is the stuff of my late May dreams. Kebabs – chicken, peppers, MUSHROOMS, onions, pineapple w/ a teriyaki-esq glaze, sub steak if you’re feelin’ fancy. Potato packs are good – thin sliced potatoes, butter, parm, seasoning, wrap in foil, throw ’em on. Do yourself a favor and make a good ol’ fashioned burger before you lose the opportunity!

Butterflied leg of lamb! Grill eggpant then throw it in a garlicky marinade right from the grill. For a starter, a big thick slice (1/2 in) of mortadella, then cut into bites with mustard to dip. Grown up fried baloney.

Karen — No, we already have a piece of furniture for it. We bought the minimalist cover and extra drip trays. Skip the grill brush, you can bring the grill grates inside and soak them and run them in the dishwasher. It’s so civilized (and more sanitary).

SallyT — Gasp! Actually, I used 1 tablespoon in there and completely forgot to mention it but it also seems like this has had zero effect on the success rates so far (I mean, it’s fairly minor) but I will add it now. Thank you.

Those are thighs!? They look so….white. I’m an ex-vegetarian who mainly eats chicken breasts now. As my meat option that is. This sounds so up my alley.
Favourite grilled things: haloumi. One time I made a coconut milk thai curry marinated grilled kale that was fantastic.

This sounds devine! To me grilling and the scent of charcoal and smoke means summer. We have a baby Weber grill that we cautiously sneak out after hours and guiltily barbecue our meats as we are lawbreakers too. We are supposed to have the bbq 10 feet from the building, and thankfully we live on the ground floor, but my hubs still does it on our covered patio. Shhh, I won’t tell if you won’t. Liquid smoke and an indoor oven only take it so far, ya know what I mean. I live in Texas where BBQ’ing should be a right not a priviledge, right?! We love gyros. This is going to be on our menu this weekend!

This grill is the best. Bought mine almost 4 years ago and it is still going strong. Because it is so easy I grill everything, even into the New England winters–my neighbors probably think I am crazy grilling salmon on my snow covered deck. The chicken recipe is perfect and I loved the ease of serving a crowd.

This is a perfect meal! I added chickpeas and olives to the salad, warmed the bread on the grill, and made my own version of tzatziki (very similar to yours but with mint and olive oil instead of lemon, dill and vinegar). My family and guests adored this and I will make it over and over again this summer. Thank you!

I don’t have a grill either. I just marinate as directed and brown in a skillet on the stove top. If you must have grill marks you could use a stove top grill pan. When the chicken is done cooking let it sit for about 5 minutes then slice thinly.

this looks so good! i am officially in “looking for summer recipes” mode, suddenly everything i’ve ever cooked just seems so hot and heavy. this is great. i also love the idea of an “everyone picks what they want” type dinner – i’ve already made the sheet pan tikka three times and just plopping the pan on the table is something i love doing.

and what do you mean “guitar recital”?? was just looking through some of your older recipes (i LOVE the new email format with the bonus links to other stories at the top btw!) so jacob not being a baby anymore is even more unbelievable, haha!

ps, we had a grill at our old place that was totally “illegal” (i believe any sort of fire had to be X feet from the building which is impossible if you live in a city) but of all the things the landlord went nuts over, he never cared about the grill. go figure! i miss it so much. (our current place doesn’t even have a fire escape.)

Love love love chicken gyros on the grill!! My brother recently made the most amazing tzatziki I’d ever had and he told me two tricks: use some (or all) of the full-fat Mediterranean-style plain Greek yogurt, and add just a small amount of diced dill pickles… Seriously amazing!!

As for our favourite on-the-grill meal as of late: marinated chicken kabobs with red peppers and pineapple, grilled corn salad (grill corn on the cob, add diced tomato and avocado, toss with honey-like dressing), with a side of hummus and flatbread. Enjoy grilling :)

Chicken’s marinating to make this tonight (on my itty bitty grill pan, unfortunately) but couldn’t find any soft pitas worth buying. I’m improvising and doing a true salad with crushed up pita chip “croutons” on top and a sprinkle of feta. I can’t wait to try it out!

I made this over the weekend when some friends came over, and served it with Greek olives and marinated feta on the side. I followed one commenter’s suggestion to add a bit of coriander and allspice to the chicken marinade. Everyone loved it.
I made chicken salad from the leftover chicken, and a friend who dropped by said it was the best he’d ever had! Thanks for this recipe. I will be making it a lot this summer!

I hope you are still reading comments because if you have not tried the yogurt marinated chicken from Dinner: A Love Story, you must. It is unbelievably good. We like the garam masala version but the lemon pepper one is a gigantic hit here.

Delicious! I use my potato ricer to remove the excess liquid from the cucumbers, very easy and quick. Every year I use the same technique when I make your Potato Latkes recipe for my husbands birthday.

You can solve your grill violation problems by purchasing a t-fal countertop infrared grill. Cooks everything and anything right to perfection, and quickly too! We used it twice last week to make this recipe – delicious as always!

Just made this using bone-in chicken drumsticks and thighs (as they were the best bargain of the organic poultry available to me at the time). I split the thigh from the drumstick, took the skin off both, and when I grilled them, I just made sure to cook through–about 30 min. total on medium high heat. Worked out just fine!

Made this for dinner last night. Made the mistake of only making 1.5 lbs of chicken because I was only cooking for 4 people. Absolutely loved this recipe. Also, I didn’t have hot smoked paprika, only regular smoked paprika. I used that and it came out great.

OK. This recipe is #sogood. It’s incredibly delicious, loaded with fresh veggies, and nearly as important, extremely quick to throw together on a weeknight when the kids are hungry. The first time I made it I cooked the chicken in a skillet and it was pretty good, but when I used a grill the second time it was significantly improved. Use a grill! Also I think the use of thigh meat is key. This one is officially on my summer short-list.

Delicious for our midweek European summer meal! Enjoyed on our 6th floor roof top balcony in Berlin tonight with a Berliner Kindl Bier! Took a little longer to prep (cos I’m slow) but was well worth it. I added a tablespoon of minced fresh mint leaves to our tzatziki and we had some grilled halloumi on the side. Thanks! Will definitely make again! The chicken was succulent and sehr lecker! Light and fresh 😉

Just made this and it was delicious, a perfect reason to hang out on the deck (and ogle the adorable hummingbirds coming to my feeder), and a 10/10 according to my picky husband. Thanks, Deb!

I ran out of dried oregano so I used a handful of fresh from my Cuban oregano plant. I recommend it for those who struggle with growing herbs like me because it looks like a succulent and has cute, fuzzy leaves. Doesn’t wilt if you forget to water for a few days.

This recipe calls for grated cucumber, but the carrot salad calls for grated carrots and they are clearly (from the photo) shredded carrots. Is this just incorrect terminology? Should the cucumbers also be shredded? You may use a box grater for both but shredding uses one side and grating another so it seems important to be clear on which is called for in a recipe.

imho, deb uses the correct terminology – in both recipes she specifies to “coarsely grate.” (not just to grate, which could be vague were it not for the photos.) coarsely grated and shredded both mean the same thing to me, i.e. the big holes on the grater. perhaps that’s a function of how or where i grew up, i’m not sure. (new englander here.) or, perhaps it’s different if you have several food processor blades you’re deciding between? i only have a mini processor with one all purpose blade, so i do all my grating by hand on a box grater or a microplane.

as far as recipes go, in both instances it’s really a matter of personal preference anyway. since neither is a cooked dish, it just depends on how you’d want to eat it. for instance you can make tzatziki with chopped cucumbers, if you don’t care for the texture of the coarse grated/shredded. (i probably wouldn’t do a fine grate because it seems like it might just totally disintegrate, but who knows, i’ve never tried it :)) or, for another, i don’t care for grated carrots, but might be inclined to eat that salad if it was done on a mandoline or on an inspiralizer.

fwiw i made this tzatziki using the big holes on the grater and it came out…well, great ;)

The tzatziki is amazing, I’ve already made it this week and last and plan to make it next week for the in-laws. I accidentally forgot to add the vinegar to the tzatziki the first time out and didn’t miss it, so left it out the next time.

The chicken rub was a little bland for my taste, but I was using chicken breasts instead of thighs.

this was one of the best dinners i’ve had in awhile, thank you deb! definitely added to the rotation, and great for summer especially.

for the chicken, i used a tablespoon of dried oregano, and also added 3T of yogurt as well as 3t of red wine vinegar. marinated for six hours and then cut the thighs into strips and threaded them onto skewers. while i don’t have a grill, i have learned that i can broil skewers in the oven and they come out great! i do 20 minutes at 400-425, flipping halfway through and then broiling for a few minutes at the end.

for the tzatziki since i was the only one who would be eating it, i halved the yogurt & cucumber but kept all the flavoring amounts the same plus an extra tablespoon of dill and a spoonful of sour cream. i will definitely make this again and again!

we had it with all the fixings (highly rec squirting any leftover lemon juice you have onto the red onions while you chop everything else up) and the “ethereally smooth hummus” recipe. anyway, everything was not only delicious but it was also IG worthy ;)https://www.instagram.com/p/BIaUyZ1jF_u/

so, just now seeing how to use the wordpress notifications panel to track replies…please disregard my elsewhere comments about email notifications, i clearly am an idiot sometimes, lol! anyway, the WP notifications tab is amazing, and now i am catching up on replies. thank you so much for your compliment, this was definitely one of the prettiest dinners i’ve cooked, though i must say SK recipes are easily the most photogenic! thank you again and happy tuesday, deb.

okay, i am a total dillweed because only today did i realize i could check reply notifications in this panel here now that deb uses wordpress. so a.) cool! and b.) omg hi! and c.) yeah, isn’t it funny, the internet is global and yet such a small world sometimes :)

Fantastic. I made it all as directed. Marinated the chicken thighs for about 6 hours before grilling. Five minutes on one side and 4 on the other, just to make sure. My guests raved! Thanks Deb for making me look good!

This recipe is wonderfully flavorful! Made it with chicken breasts since boneless skinless thighs aren’t a standard item at grocery stories in Liguria and swapped piadelle for pita for the same reason. Used regular yogurt drained for a few hours and marinated the red onion in lemon juice and salt. My husband, who really eats only for fuel, asked that we have this at least once a week for the rest of the summer! Had a little tzatziki left over and served it to happy aperitivo guests the next day with breadsticks and celery sticks. Really a winner.

We bought one of these. It’s never going to do what my one-day big green egg will, but for 2 to 4 people and weeknight ease, it’s unbeatable. Also, the grill plates are small — you can actually soak them in the sink and run them through the dishwasher so they don’t have to get too gross.

Made this for dinner last night with my husband’s business partner in tow and it was a gigantic hit. The chicken was so flavorful (6hr marinating time) and all of the components put together were like they were MFEO. I halved the recipes and there were virtually no leftovers except for the tzatziki – which is never a bad thing to have leftover. Thanks for another great one, Deb!

I made this for a crowd of ten with great success. Homemade tzatziki was definitely worth the effort versus store bought, as was seeking out fresh pita from a Middle Eastern specialty store versus the dried out pita from the grocery store.

Successful edits and substitutions: 1 tsp of dried dill instead of 1 Tbsp fresh (just make in advance); adding a Tbsp or 2 of yogurt to the marinade for the chicken per another person’s suggestion; 3 Tbsp lemon juice versus the combo of juice and vinegar.

Where can I find Kontos pita bread in Los Angeles? Their website & Amazon only sells them by (12) 5-count packages for $100…that’s a LOT of pita! Any other brands you would suggest? I really like the pita at Daphne’s Greek Restaurant.

I’m not an LA expert but I kind of feel like they’re in a lot of stores often when you’re not looking, sometimes near flatbreads instead of pitas. Never Whole Foods (much to my chagrin) but regular grocery stores. I mean, the bodega near me carries them, randomly enough (although they’re pretty well-stocked). Hope that helps.

On days when I don’t have any time to cook, I spread some pesto on skewers of shrimp and grill them. The pesto makes lovely, burnt crust that my kids love. I serve it with a grilled corn/cherry tomato/red onion/basil salad.

Ina’s original had called for 2 teaspoons, definitely too much, so I drop it down to 1 1/2. It is on the salty side (we love it, but it might not be what everyone wants from one) and you could definitely start at 1 teaspoon next time to be safe. David’s is (I think) akin to Morton’s in weight; I use Diamond which is lighter but usually adjust recipes down from there because I don’t assume most people use it.

These were absolutely delicious! I used Naan bread since it looked fresher than the pita bread in our grocery store. Super fresh, healthy and filling. In the rotation now! We halted the recipe, but wish I hadn’t since leftovers would have been great.

Hello! Any insight as to how the marinade would work for steak and vegetables? We’re doing a Mediterranean spread for my daughter’s first birthday party (whew, what a year!) and would like to do chicken, steak, and veggie kebabs. I think it’ll work great but my husband is suspicious for some reason that the flavors will work well with steak…can anyone help settle our disagreement? Thank you!

Definitely! I should disclose that I’m a bit of a plain jane with steak — I usually just grill it with salt and pepper; it’s chicken I think needs all this help with more flavors. But no way would it taste bad, or that I wouldn’t eat it all. ;)

Summer down here in Australia and this was a perfect casual dinner for entertaining old friends.
I cooked extra, plain chicken for my extremely fussy teenage son but he scorned that and happily tucked in to the marinated slices with everyone else – so even more of a win! there was not a skerrick of chicken or pita bread left and most of the tzatziki disappeared too.

For dessert I did your grilled peach splits.. sensational.

Another delicious thing I love to BBQ (grill): lamb cutlets, covered with a small slice of feta and a small sprig of rosemary, then wrapped in prosciutto. The lamb stays lovely and moist and pink and the feta and prosciutto gives a lovely salty tang. Yum.

What I’d like to know is if the flavors would be ruined if I cooked the chicken in the marinade in a slow cooker. Obviously I’d end up with something more like pulled or shredded chicken, texture-wise, but that would still do for stuffing pita, no?

(I have a 5 week old baby and decided to invite people over for dinner tomorrow and now I am trying to think of ways to make it easier on myself.)

This salad is the best summer weeknight meal! I feel like chicken sometimes gets boring on the grill but these flavors are so good and fresh. Try the grilled Texas chicken with cilantro lime butter from abountifulkitchen blog. Cocoa and chili powder in the rub– but really it’s all about the butter! Yum!!

Made this last night and enjoying leftovers now. Added some fresh mint from my garden to the tzatzki for a little extra zing. I’m excited to use this for a party and thinking about including some nice feta and some seasoned chickpeas on the platter as well. Maybe get crazy and add some charred eggplant or Deb’s smoky eggplant dip on the side, too. :)

SO. GOOD.
I made this last night for dinner, we had leftovers tonight, and I’m so looking forward to the last of it for lunch tomorrow!
Since we’re a 2-person household I assembled individual salads instead of putting it all out on a platter (this also ensures that there will actually be leftovers for future meals ;) ) — I tossed the lettuce with a little bit of EVOO & red wine vinegar before adding the veggies (+ red pepper strips + slices radishes, just because), then topping with the chicken and dolloping the tzatziki over top. The chicken was crazy flavorful even though I only marinated for about 30-45 minutes. I used a grill-pan since we are sadly grill-less and it worked wonderfully. I skipped the pita just because we had a bit of a carb-heavy weekend.
This was huge hit with the hubs and will definitely be on repeat this summer! Thanks Deb!

Good Morning!
I love this recipe. Thank you for sharing! One question – do you ever have a problem with your chicken thighs sticking to the grill? That happened to me last night. As I usually do when things go wrong, I am researching this to death!! There are so many different opinions on grilling b/l s/l chicken thighs (high heat vs med – high vs low and slow, oil the grates, oil the meat, don’t use marinade, use a marinade that has oil in it, etc). What is your approach? I’m going to try again tonight – seriously… I’m that stubborn!!

I tend to use high heat for everything, but also have a dinky grill. Still, a charred edge tastes good and chicken doesn’t take long to bake — it’s usually a good temperature. For sticking, I usually spray the grates with Pam (um, be careful, I don’t think this is actually the brightest idea) or brush them with oil. If the chicken is still sticking, it often benefits from a little more time to get a good edge/crust to it, same as in a frying pan. Hope that helps.

I love this meal! Great for having friends over in the summer. I also added your tzatziki potato salad to further extend the meal and realized it is a great addition/replacement for gluten free friends

I made something similar but added spiced chickpeas and used mayo in the dressing for dairy free. It was delicious. I also tried which you insist and it was perfect. It can be served to any one who loves to eat the gyro.
Thanks for sharing this unique recipe.

I made this yesterday as a lighter alternative at a cookout my husband and I hosted. Everyone raved about the chicken – it was so delicious! I had plenty of romaine left over, but no chicken (it was devoured). I guess I’ll have to make it again (scaled down for two this time).

I made this for dinner last night, and it was delicious! Since I keep kosher, I used tahini (amount scaled down) instead of yogurt in the sauce and gave hummus to my tahini-averse boyfriend. I also don’t eat garlic, and it was great without.

This is a great summer dish. Sometimes I just buy storemade tatziki to speed along the meal, which is so quick otherwise. Love doing the chicken on the grill so it gets a smoky flavor. We often eat this as a salad.

We tried this for the first time last night and my family loved it. I made one alteration: I pickled the onions (referring to your fajita recipe). It was amazing. Thank you! This will be getting made again really soon (especially since I have left over Tzatziki!).

I have now made this 3 weeks in a row… it’s that good. I am an apartment dweller with no barbecue, so I just used a skillet instead… It’s so simple and yet so delicious and filling… one of the only meals I can eat for lunch and dinner three days in a row and not get bored. Definitely make all the tzatziki – I’m just one person and I still went through it all… (shh)

Made this last night for just the two of us, and now we have plenty of leftovers! SOOO good, and easy. I don’t do dairy, so I made homemade mayo and used that instead of yogurt – subbed perfectly thinned out with some lemon juice. Thank you!!

Absolutely add this addictive classic to your grilling rep. The grated cucumber process imbues such crisp and summery flavors to the sauce while also adding a pronounced perceived lightness. Loved the balance achieved- perfectly created and detailed recipe.

Dinner guest had to reschedule for tomorrow, but chicken has been marinating since 10 am! Should I:
(a) just let it marinate till he arrives tomorrow evening, and grill then, or
(b) respect the “up to 24 hours” and grill it tonight or tomorrow morning?

I’m inclined to (a) but don’t know what the effect will be. Sorry for the late notice question everyone, no sweat if I don’t get an answer :)

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I just reread your NYT article about reasons not to cook, and the line about how cooking a meal people love can change your day drove me to comment. I made this, along with homemade pita and a big dish of lemony potatoes, for a dinner last week. I doubled the recipe and barely had leftovers, even though we were only four people. My friends had seconds, and then thirds (they are triathletes, training for Ironman, so I supposed that’s fair), exclaimed over how flavourful the chicken is and how they’d never had homemade tzatziki before. They heaped scoops of vegetables on top of potatoes on top of bread and said it hinted of summer. We drank a bottle of champagne to celebrate the purchase of our new house, and then a growler of beer, and then finished off a carrot cake my mum had delivered the day before. And I was so pleased to have my house filled with people who were delighted and satisfied by a home-cooked meal. So thank you. This is a fantastic recipe that I’ll make again and again. Cooking was definitely worth it.

I made this for 8 folks as an easy dinner options. Store bought pitas were delish and I marinated the chicken – I used thin cut breasts- for about 18 hours. The chicken was so flavorful and it paired beautifully with the taziki!

Made this tonight, and will regularly in future. Huz is sodium-restricted these days, so I greatly reduced the salt, and we still loved it. I did skip the pita in favor of Armenian-style pilaf, as our fave Greek pita is sodium-heavy. Directions do result in a metric ton of tzatziki, which is in no way a bad thing here. Thanks, Deb!

Okay so I’m pretty literal and need specific instruction. I love this salad and have made it twice now, but I’m still a little confused on how it’s meant to be eaten. There’s no dressing and I’ve definitely piled on the tszatiski, but it feels a bit much. Is the intention to throw on to the pita or into the pita or maybe to add some dressing? Just curious to know how you guys consume <3 Thank you!

We usually heap it onto the pita wedges with the tzatziki and chicken. Or just pile it onto a plate — you can dollop the tzatziki on top or schmear it below. Or, if you want more dressing on the vegetables, you can always season them with some olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.